Pension Liability for Savings Bank Staff employed on other than Savings Bank Management Duties. 16. I stated last year that consideration of this question was being deferred by the Post Office until the final report of the Government Actuary on the calculation of pension liability had been received. In reply to a further inquiry, I have recently been informed that this report has been received, and is at present under consideration. War Stocks and Bonds held on the Post Office Register. Unclaimed Dividends and Principal Moneys unclaimed after redemption not paid over to the National Debt Commissioners. 17. Section 61 of the National Debt Act, 1870, as amended by Section 49 (2) of the Finance Act, 1921, provides that, where any dividend accrued due on any sum of stock is not claimed within such period as the Treasury may prescribe, not being less than twelve months or more than five years from the date on which the dividend accrued due, the dividend so unclaimed shall be paid to the National Debt Commissioners, whose duty it is to invest such moneys on behalf of the public, subject to the claims of the parties entitled thereto. The Treasury, under the powers conferred by this section, directed the Postmaster General that, where any dividend due on any sum of stock to which the section applies is not claimed within a period of five years from the date on which it accrued due, or a period of one year from the date on which the stock matures, whichever is the shorter, the dividend so unclaimed shall be paid to the National Debt Commissioners. Clause 6 of the Third Schedule to the Finance Act, 1921, provides that, where any principal moneys which become payable on the redemption of any Government stock are not claimed by the stockholder within a period of one year from the date of redemption, the moneys so unclaimed shall be forthwith paid to the National Debt Commissioners. My attention was drawn to the fact that, in respect of stocks held on the Post Office register at the Savings Bank Department, the above mentioned statutory conditions were not complied with either as regards unclaimed dividends or principal moneys payable on redemption. In reply to inquiries, I am informed that in view of the large number of cases in which payments of outstanding dividends and principal moneys were required to be made after the statutory date for transfer to the National Debt Commissioners, and of the large amount of additional work which the carrying out of the prescribed procedure would entail on both the Post Office and the National Debt Commissioners, the Treasury have concurred in this non-compliance with statutory provision, and propose at the earliest opportunity to ask for legislative authority for the extension of the present statutory periods in the case of Post Office issues of Government stock. |